Method of and machine for



A. W. HARRISON. METHOD OF AND MACHINE FOR APPLYING STOPS T0 INSULATOR ATTACHING MEMBERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 11 1920.

Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

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p TsNT ()FFIKCTE.

ARTHUR HARRISON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD OF AND MACHINE FOR APPLYING STOPS TO INSULATOR-ATTA CHI NG MEMBERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. *7, 1920.

Application vfilel May 1. 1920. Serial No. 378,143.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR WV. HARRI- SON, acitizen of the United States, and resident of Boston, in the county of Sufiolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Machines for Applying Stops to Insulator-Attaching Members, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the production of apertured knobs or porcelain insulators with attaching devices so assembled therewith as to retain the parts in their assembled condition during handling when being transported and when the knobs or porcelains are to be attached to a wall or other support.

A well known practice at present is to swage the attaching member to so enlarge it at one point as to keep it from slipping out of the porcelain. This requires the use of somewhat expensive machinery which needs frequent treatment to swage properly, and while swaging does not interfere with the driving of a nail, it seriously interferes with the setting of a screw. Moreover, when a swaged stop is provided on an attaching member the entire unit is useless if one of the porcelains becomes broken, because no new porcelain can be slipped onto the attaching member over the swaged enlargement.

It has also been proposed to employ leather or metal washers to serve as stops on the attaching members, but such washers must be accurately made and constitute a material element of expense, and must either be located on the attaching members by handor by quite complicated machinery.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple and easily operated machine for automatically applying to a screw or nail, at the proper point thereof, after it has been insertedthrough the aperture of one or more porcelains, a partial or complete collar of material which will adhere to the attaching member and hold the parts in assembled condition and still not intermember which latter has been treated bythe machine.

Rising from a suitable base 12 are two uprights 13, 14, the former supporting a horizontal shelf 15 on which a work table 16 is mounted. Preferably the table 16 is secured to the shelf so it may be laterally adjusted. F or this purpose the shelf is formed with slots 17 through which screws '18 pass into the table 16. A guide wall 19, having its end where the work enters flared or tapered outwardly, has its foot flange slotted for screws which pass through into the shelf 15. One of such screws is indicated at 20 in Fig. 2.

A guide strip 21, parallel with the wall 19, is supported by suitable means such as one or more posts 22 rising from the table 16. The strip 21 is in an elevated position as shown, for a reason which will be explained.

Removably mounted on a shelf 23 of the upright 14 is a tank 24 for the adhesive material employed such as pitch. To heat said material to keep it fluid. a burner of the Bunsen type may be located as indicated at 25 in Fig. 2. A disk wheel 26 carried by a shaft 27 which may be the main driving shaft of the machine extends into the pitchy material in the tank 24.

Means for positively moving the assembled porcelains a and b, and the attaching member 0 along the table comprises, in this embodiment of the invention, a plurality of wings 2S projecting radiallv from a hub carried by a shaft 29 mounted in a bearing 30 at the top of the upright 13, said shaft having a sprocket connected by a sprocket chain with asprocket wheel ofshaft 27.

Supported by the upright 14 are the shafts of two upper pulleys 32, 33 and two lower pulleys 34, 35. A fiat friction belt, of rubher or leather or other suitable material, is mounted on the upper pulleys as indicated at 36. A similar belt 37 is mounted on the lower pulleys. The two belts are so mounted or arranged that the lower stretch of the upper belt and the upper stretch of the lower belt act frictionally on opposite sides of'the screw or nail which is carried along between said stretches by the pushing action of the carrier wings 28 on the insulators. Said belts travel in opposite directions as indicated by arrows in Fig. 1 so that while the attaching member is being carried over and in contact with the disk wheel 26 it will be revolved and thereby cause the adhesive material to form a stop d (Fig. 4) completely around the attaching member, like a ring. In the machine illustrated the means for effecting the movements of the belts as described comprise pinions carried by the shafts of the pulleys 33, 35, said pinions being parts of a train of gearing driven from the main shaft 27- as shown in Fig. 1.

In the use of the machine the operator simply places the porcelains or insulators on the front end of the table 16 with the heads of the attaching members, whether screws or nails, at the left. Preferably the front end of the table is inclined or curved upwardly as indicated in Fig. 1 so that each successive unit comprising the members a, I), 0, will automatically roll toward the carrier to be engaged by one of the wings 28 thereof. No special care is required to insure close relationship of the members because the fiaring front ends of the guide members 19, 21, render it certain that when each unit reaches position for the application of the stop cl the members a and b will be close together as shown in Fig. 2, the guide wall 19 insuring the pushing of the member 0 to the extreme right so that the stop d will be applied to said member 0 at the correct distance from its point.

When screws are employed as attaching members it is not customary to employ any washers, but when nails are used instead of screws washers are usually required between the heads of the nails and the adjacent end surfaces of the members a. The provision of means for laterally adjusting the guide wall 19 enables the space between the guides 19 and 21 to be readily increased to accommodate units having nails with washers under their heads, without causing endwise crowding that might interfere with easy passage of the units through the machine.

Suitable means may be provided for preventing the disk wheel from carrying an excessive amount of pitch. Said means may conveniently consist of a scraper or doctor 38 (Fig. 3) having suitable means for adjusting it relatively to the wheel.

The tank 24c'may be of any convenient capacity, but since only a very small amount of pitch is required on the attaching member to form a stop cl that will effectively prevent that member from afterward slipping out of the holes in the insulators, it is entirely feasible for the operator to occasionally drop a small lump of cold pitch into the tank, said lump quickly melting.

The guide strip 21 serves the purpose of preventing the member I) from passing the disk 26 so closely as to receive any deposit of pitch from said disk. It is elevated to permit the attaching member 0 to pass along below its lower edge.

If the attaching members employed in the use of the machine are nails instead of screws 0, it is preferable to employ what are known as corrugated nails since the pitch will more readily remain in position until such time as the nails are driven into a wall or elsewhere.

The nails of this type which I preferably employ are known as f cement coated barbed nails. They have a coating of a resinous nature. Such coating not only aids in holding the stops cl in place, but also aids in insuring rotation of the nails when the stops are being applied by the machine. This lat-' ter is due to the fact that the slightly tacky nature of the coating enables the belts 36 37 to get a better grip on the nails to rotate them so that-the stops will, as is preferable, completely surround the nails. When screws are being treated by the machine the belts get suflicient grip on the threads of the screws to effect complete rotation thereof while the screws are in such proximity to the disk 26 as to receive pitch therefrom.

Having now described my invention, I claim 1. The method of providing apertured articles with an attaching device mounted and retained in the apertures thereof, said method consisting in holding the attaching device in the apertures of said articles with its tip end projecting a predetermined distance from said articles, and while so held applying viscous material to the attaching device at a point to permit relative movement of the parts to a limited extent.

2. A machine of the character described comprising means for supporting an apertured article with an attaching member in taching member, and means for rotating the attaching member during the application of the viscous material.

4:. A machine of the character described comprising a receptacle for adhesive, means for passing assembled porcelains and attaching members over said receptacle with the attaching members projecting from said porcelains, and means for elevating adhesive from said receptacle and applying it to the attaching members.

5. A machine of the character described comprising a receptacle for adhesive, means for passing assembled porcelains and attaching members over said receptacle with the attaching members projecting from said porcelains, means for elevating adhesive from said receptacle and applying it to the attaching members, and means for rotating the attaching members while in position to receive the elevated adhesive.

6. A machine for treating assembled porcelains and attaching members, comprising means for causing said assembled articles to move in a predetermined path with the pointed end of each attaching member proj ecting from a porcelain, and means for applying viscous material to each attaching member.

7. A machine for treating assembled porcelains and attaching members, comprising means for causing said assembled articles to move in a predetermined path. with the pointed end of each attaching member projecting from a porcelain, a reservoir of viscous material adjacent the path of movement of said articles, and means for transferring a small quantity of said material from the reservoir to each attaching member.

8. A machine for treating assembled porcelains and attaching members, comprising means for causing said assembled artielse to move in a predetermined path with the pointed end of each attaching member projecting from a porcelain, a reservoir of viscous material adjacent the path of movement of said articles, and means for transferring a small quantity of said material from the reservoir to each attaching member at a predetermined distance from the point of said member.

9. A machine for treating assembledporcelains and attaching members, comprising a platform, means for pushing said assembled articles along the platform, means for guiding said articles in a predetermined path on the platform, and means for applying viscous material to the attaching members during their movement along the platform.

10. A machine for treating assembled porcelains and attaching members, comprising a platform, means for pushing said assembled articles along the platform, means for guiding said articles in a predetermined path on the platform, a rotary disk having an edge portion adjacent the path of move ment of the attaching members, and means for supplying viscous material to said disk.

11. A machine of the character described comprising a platform, means for pushing assembled porcelains and attaching members along the platform, guides to retain said articles in proper relative positions during their movement on the platform, and means for applying viscous material to the attaching members during their said movement.

12. A machine of the character described comprising a platform, means for pushing assembled porcelains and attaching members along the platform, guides to retain said articles in proper relative positions during their movement on the platform, a reservoir for viscous material, and a rotary disk for transferring material from said reservoir to the attaching members.

13. A machine of the character described comprising means for causing an apertured article having an attaching device in its aperture to travel laterally and while said aperture and attaching device are substantially horizontal, and means for treating the attaching device, While traveling, to provide a stop to retain it in said aperture.

14:. A machine of the character described comprising means for causing an apertured article having an attaching device in its aperture to travel, guides to insure proper longitudinal position of the attaching device in said aperture, and means for treating the attaching device, While traveling, to provide a stop to retain it in said aperture.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature.

ARTHUR W. HARRISON. 

